Phoenix Man Sentenced To 15 Years For Bludgeoning Woman To death

PHOENIX, AZ — A Phoenix man was sentenced to 15 years in prison last week for the bludgeoning death of Gia Zamora on Sept. 11, 2019 in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.

Jesse Don Moquino, 39, of Phoenix pleaded guilty in February 2020 to voluntary manslaughter as part of a plea agreement, but his sentencing was pushed back numerous times over the past two years until it finally happened last week.

Moquino, an enrolled member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, was initially charged with first-degree murder but pleaded to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. In addition to 15 years in prison, the maximum sentence for his conviction, Moquino was ordered to serve three years of probation.

Through the plea agreement Moquino admitted to stabbing Zamora with a screwdriver and then hitting her in the back of the head with a blunt object.

A medical examiner's report found a large laceration on the back of Zamora's head that exposed her brain and a stab wound in her neck.

Zamora's killing was reported when the woman who lived in the home where Zamora was killed came home on the evening of Sept. 11, 2019 and found Moquino standing next to Zamora's body, according to a criminal complaint.

Zamora's body was wrapped in a sheet and an air mattress and there was a large pool of blood in the living room, covered with a sheet. A mop and bucket were nearby.

That was when the woman who lived in the home said she "freaked out."

Moquino told her not to call the police and that he would "take care of it," according to the complaint, but when the woman told Moquino she was calling the police, he left in Zamora's Scion, along with his two children, the complaint said.

One of Moquino's children told police that he heard Moquino and Zamora arguing around 1 a.m. that day, and it was so loud that he called his mother to come pick him up. The woman who lived in the home also said she heard a loud thump around 1 a.m. that day, according to the complaint.

But neither the child nor the woman witnessed Zamora's death.

Moquino had told a neighbor that Zamora was trying to poison his kids, but the neighbor didn’t believe him because he suspected that Moquino was using methamphetamine, according to the complaint.